Consumers Energy : Crews Make Progress on Damage Assessment, Start Restoring Power After Severe Winds Sweep Through Michigan

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Crews Make Progress on Damage Assessment, Start Restoring Power After Severe Winds Sweep Through Michigan

Jackson, Mich. Saturday, December 11, 2021

Consumers Energy restoration crews are in action after a severe storm featuring high winds over 55 miles per hour swept quickly through Michigan Saturday morning, causing damage and knocking out power to over 146,000 customers. As crews continue assessing the damage caused by the strong winds, they have been able to already restore power to 11,000 customers.

"Our crews in the field are seeing significant damage with trees snapped and lines down across our service territory," said Melissa Gleespen, Consumers Energy's Officer in Charge for the storm event. "We thank customers for their patience as we wait for the winds to die down so crews can safely restore power."

The strong winds make access to pole tops and power lines dangerous from bucket trucks, and 268 crews are staged to begin work as soon as they are safely able.

Severe weather swept through Michigan knocking out power along the lakeshore, moving across mid and southern Michigan this morning. Winds reportedly over 55 mph knocked down trees, limbs and over 1,800 power lines.

A majority of affected customers are expected to be restored by the end of the day Monday. Customerscan report an outage and check the status of outage by visiting www.ConsumersEnergy.com/OutageCenter. Customers can also sign up to get outage alerts and restoration times sent to a phone, email or text message, Text 'REG' to 232273 or visit www.ConsumersEnergy.com/alerts.

Gleespen urged people to stay at least 25 feet away from downed power lines, keep children or pets away, and report the issue by calling 9-1-1 and Consumers Energy at 800-477-5050. Someone will respond as quickly as possible to secure the scene. Consumers Energy asks the public to keep a safe distance from crews due to health precautions and to allow them to do their work.

Consumers Energy also asks the public to keep important safety tips in mind:

• Be alert to crews working along roads. Drivers should slow down or stop and wait for oncoming traffic to clear so they safely can go past workers on roadsides.
• Call 2-1-1 if you are looking for help connecting to resources that offer assistance in your community. 2-1-1 is a free statewide service.
• Never use a generator in an attached garage, basement, enclosed patio or near any air intakes. Doing so could cause a generator to produce hazardous levels of carbon monoxide, an odorless, colorless and deadly gas.Read more guidance on safe generator use here.
• Consumers Energy will trim or remove trees interfering with electric restoration activities. Once safe to do so, clean-up of debris from tree trimming or removal during a storm emergency is the responsibility of individual property owners.
• In some cases, the mast which holds the electric service wires to a customer's home or business may have been damaged or torn away. Crews will reconnect the wires to a home, but only a licensed electrician can repair or replace a mast or a cable.

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Media Contacts: Katie Carey, 517-740-1739

The next news release is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. Saturday, December 11.